KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – Somber and reflective, Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah says his country was on the verge of a “very serious, serious situation” before he struck a U.S.-brokered deal with his rival to avert the crisis by holding a fully audited vote count.
The ex-foreign minister, who is in a deadlocked contest to succeed Hamid Karzai, told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday that he holds out hope that the outcome will bring Afghanistan closer to his vision of a country ruled by democratic institutions and laws.
“It’s not like a win-lose situation, it’s a sort of win-win situation,” he said.
Asked about a published report that some supporters were ready to seize the presidential palace by force before the deal, because they feared the June 14 runoff was being decided fraudulently, he declined to discuss details.
“But it was a very serious, serious situation, not just in Kabul but throughout the country,” said Abdullah, an opposition leader with strong support in northern Afghanistan, especially among the ethnic Tajik community and loyalists of the former Northern Alliance militia.